Carrie McCluskey is taking a diploma mill, called Belford High School to court after it sold her a fake GED degree through the internet. McCluskey was drawn to the website because of the low price for the GED exam and degree program but found out later that it was unacceptable when applying to Baker College. Hollyn Johnson | The Flint Journal

FLINT, Michigan — It was a piece of paper that was supposed to give Carrie McCluskey a second chance.

Just 10 questions, one week and $250 later, she says the high school diploma stamped with a gold seal was mailed to her Flint home.

Except, she says, it wasn’t real.

Now the Baker College student is among three people suing a reported diploma mill in a federal lawsuit to try to shut it down.

“Getting a GED can really help you start your life,” said McCluskey, 26, who is studying human resources at Baker. “People who want to give you fake ones are saying they don’t care where your life will go. They’re just out for your money.”

The lawsuit is against www.belfordhighschool.com — whose controversial diplomas have made national headlines and been called worthless by the Council of Better Business Bureau Inc.

A representative who answered a toll free number for the Humble, Texas-based www.belfordhighschool.com disputed claims that the online school is a scam. The counselor, who identified himself as Dom Wright, said the site does not claim to award GEDs — it awards actual diplomas based on life experience or testing.

“If this diploma was not accredited or recognized do you think we would still be in business?” Wright asked.

Despite a warning issued by the Better Business Bureau in August that the diplomas awarded by Belford and other online companies weren’t worth the paper they were printed on, Wright contended the school has had 87,000 graduates and is accredited by the International Accreditation Agency for Online Universities and the Universal Council for Online Education.

But the Googasian Firm, a Bloomfield Hills-based law firm representing McCluskey and two other students from Arizona and California is calling Belford a “massive rip-off.”

McCluskey, who attended Holly High School but never graduated, said she only recently had an opportunity to go back to school.

She was advised that online GEDs were faster and cheaper, so she typed keywords on the Internet — and that led her to Belford’s Web site, which prominently displays the word “GED” on its pages, although it claims it awards actual diplomas.

Her Belford diploma came with a 3.9 GPA.

McCluskey said it was a Baker official who gave her the bad news.

“They told me they couldn’t accept that because they had never heard of that school and it wasn’t accredited,” she said. “I was pretty upset. I had just paid $250 for something, and now I had to pay more. Most people getting their GEDs don’t have that kind of money.

“You’re trying to move forward and someone out there is trying to make you move backwards. I was doing all this to make a better life for me and my family.”

The engaged single mother of two ended up pursuing the GED process again — this time taking an in-person test at Carman-Ainsworth High School.

Belford’s Wright contended that Baker College was among a handful of colleges in Michigan that previously had accepted Belford graduates.

Baker College officials declined comment on Belford and the case but said the college does not accept Belford High School diplomas.

“It is an actual high school diploma that is accredited,” Wright said. “If they provide us with the rejection letter, we will give them a refund.”

But many local colleges say these types of companies are on their radar.

MCC officials said they didn’t have any students in their system that listed Belford as their high school, but diploma mills were a concern.

The University of Michigan-Flint also watches for red flags but officials note that students don’t necessarily have to come from a high school with specific accreditation — some were home-schooled or attended an international school.

Transcripts combined with ACT or SAT scores is what’s most important, said admissions director Kimberly Williams.

“It is a concern,” Williams said of mills. “But the bigger concern is that students are prepared academically. They have to show us they are prepared for the rigor of our curriculum.”

This isn’t the first time Belford High School and Belford University — which is also based in Humble, Texas and also has been accused of selling bogus degrees — have made the news.

George Gollin, a professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, made headlines last year for his crusade against diploma mills after being offered a doctorate in thoracic surgery at Belford University based on his experience reading newspapers and watching the news.

In 2008, Gollin helped authorities unravel a global operation that led to a list of 9,600 people who possibly purchased phony degrees — including government employees.

Along with McCluskey, students Evelyn Reisborff of Arizona and Jaime Yanez of California are also named in what could become a class-action lawsuit against Belford.

The lawsuit, which does not ask for a specific dollar amount and demands Belford be shut down, accuses the online school of fraud among other charges

“If you look around the state of our economy, especially in Michigan, people are really hurting,” said Dean Googasian, of the Googasian Firm. “A lot of folks are out of work and they’re looking for a way to take that first step toward a better job and better life.

“It’s frankly offensive that there are people out there willing to just rip off folks who are looking to better themselves and we’re hoping to put a stop to it.”